Conjuring images of a primal futurism, this alchemical blending-of-sound is a ceremonial offering to the forgotten gods. THE ANCESTOR CIRCLE is a new tribal-ambient-electronic collaboration, the first recording from Roach and Reyes since VINE ~ BARK & SPORE. This is the lost chapter of a long soulful journey that has taken twists and turns in its unfoldment. The music feels steeped in a frothy mind-altering blend, waiting for years as the potency increased. Roach and Reyes combined their instinctual nature -- developed over almost a decade of worldwide live and studio adventures -- leading up to the core of what became THE ANCESTOR CIRCLE. It is in this circle that their sound is unearthed from deep within their primordial soundworld, where prehistory meets future-tech creating a sound impossible to carbon date. Like the audio artifacts of a lost tribe, the studio source recordings that form this album's foundation were uncovered in 2013 on a cryptically-marked set of tapes. Created the week before Roach and Reyes' May 2000 concert at Tucson's Temple of Music and Art, this is their last joint studio project, as Reyes passed on to the ancestor circle in 2009.Continued...

On May 27 2000, Steve Roach and Jorge Reyes presented their first-ever concert in North America at Tucson's Temple of Music and Art. Since 1991 they've presented their ground-breaking tribal ambient music worldwide from such exotic locations as a theater built into a volcanic cave in the Canary Islands, to a performance space built upon a field of volcanic rock surrounded by 60 massive stone columns in Mexico City, then to New Music festivals in Europe's concert halls and Medieval churches. Jorge, who passed away in 2009, consistently performed for massive audiences at the prehispanic temples and pyramids throughout Mexico, and those who were tuned to PBS television on New Year's 2000 saw his performance in the center of Mexico City bring in the new Millennium with a global broadcast.Continued...

This is a new collaboration from Jorge Reyes with Dutch electronic instrument builder and sound artist Piet Jan Blauw. The release holds some great pieces in the true Jorge Reyes ethno-electronic spirit. Indigenous voices are also featured throughout in collages and samples. A groove source from THE SERPENT'S LAIR is featured on track 3, as well as sources from VINE ~ BARK & SPORE on track 6. This Dutch version of the CD features a special cover printed on radiant paper.

It is a time for silence, the suns and moons that can be counted, for the remembrance of the gods, for the mystery and knowledge... This is a pure Jorge Reyes pre-Hispanic musical experience. Drawing from the rich cultures of the Mayas, Toltecs, Olmecs, Aztecs and more this is a powerful look at the mystical, traditional music modes and rites that are Jorge's birth right. This release will transport the listener to his famous concerts at the time-worn pyramids and ancient overgrown cities throughout Mexico. Instruments include clay pots, turtle shell, ocarinas, seed pods, log drum, rainstick, cocoon shakers, stones, and more.

VINE ~ BARK & SPORE captures a pure, organic sound that is rich with a potent magical atmosphere. The remote and mysterious locations deep in Mexico's historic landscape, as well as the hallucinogenic terrain of the Sonoran desert in Southern Arizona, provide the ground where this music takes place. The musical elixir was created from a surreal blending of acoustic and electronic instruments, along with voice and location recordings. With strong shamanic undercurrents, it creates an opening to step through time and again. VINE ~ BARK & SPORE offers music as medicine for the soul. The music of Roach and Reyes acts as a transmitter of the attitudes that ancient cultures had towards music and the spiritual aspects of life, while merging with the currents of today.

The second chapter in the Suspended Memories story. Recorded between concert dates in Spain and Germany. This recording presents a more complex and layered sound due to the studio conditions the group found themselves in. A "Next World" sound is further explored. Prehispanic and Mexican shamanic influences merge with more urgent rhythms while the guitar and synths create the expansive fabric on which it all sits. Winner of the NAIRD Independent Release of the Year, 1993.

This cross-section of the best and brightest stars on the ethnographical plateau is not only one of the most representative of the genre, it's one of the few collections worth owning. O Yuki Conjugate leads things off in a ghostly fashion with the ominous "Insect-Talk (Dry)" six minutes of eerie percussives, hushed chants, ganking bass and nocturnal electronics. Vidna Obmana's "The Embrace in Motion" shows how influential his recent mindmelds with Steve Roach have been as he explores the same morass of electronic primordialism to chilling effect, while Roach himself chimes in with "Before the Sacrifice", featuring tribal, penetrating hand-struck percussions and canyon-deep chords of synth that envelop you totally. Jorge Reyes dabbles in yet more of his singular acoustic prehispanics, while the mysterious Belgian troupe known as Hybryds explores infinitely frightening realms on "Orca". Temps Perdu? continue to amaze with "Rano Raraku" which suggests murky abyssal depths but has cosmic overtones as well. And there's further remarkable contributions from the likes of Jeff Greinke, Alio Die, Paul Schütze (deep-space electronics mixed with Hassell-like ethereal beats), Voice of Eye, Dino Oon & Konrad Kraft and Human Flesh." -- Darren Bergstein, i/e Magazine

The music rises up from the darkness and howls at the moon. An ancient voice chants in serpentine ecstacy, only to subside and hover next to silence. In those moments when the sound dissolves beyond recognition, the subconscious leaks through, whispering of faded visions painted on stone, of memories suspended by the passage of time, of gods long forgotten. This is the world where Steve Roach, Jorge Reyes and Suso Saiz create their music. There are no scores, no plans, in the initial stages of composition. Like jazz artists who extemporize freely through a shared musical language, the members of Suspended Memories connect on an intuitive level of pure sound. But it isn't jazz they're playing. Roach, Reyes, and Saiz practice a form of collective improvisation from another time, another place, maybe one that never really existed before, except in the shrouded landscapes of a shaman's dream.

We managed to find a very small handful the ultra-rare, out-of-print Extreme label version of this 1993 classic -- still sealed. During this period of the early 90's, a steady stream of influential recordings by Jorge and Steve were created, fusing the ancient and modern spirit of shamanic ceremonial remembering. This release stands together with Suspended Memories, ORIGINS, ARTIFACTS etc. as essential releases which mapped the new landscapes that would soon be called tribal-ambient. Haunting, timeshifting atmospheres, various percussion, clay pots, and pre-Hispaninc flutes abound, along with Jorge's voice and chanting. All of this boils steadily throughout the journey into the "customs" of the new tribes.